Chasing Shadows
by MerryLittleMess
Summary: Aiming to be an episode that was never filmed. Shikamaru and his team have gathered valuable information. Before they can deliver it, however, something unforeseen happens, putting Shikamaru's life in jeopardy and prompting Sakura, Naruto and Hinata to go on a risky mission.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Hi! This is my first attempt at Naruto fanfiction. I hope I did alright with this first scene. What do you think? Should I continue this story? **  
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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. All generic disclaimers apply. ;)

* * *

 **1**

"Don't! Choji, stop!", Shikamaru shouted when he saw his friend's hands move to form his trademark jutsu. But it was already too late, the damage was done. A huge giant of a man looked down on them, wearing an equally big satisfied smile on his face. That was, until the enemy adapted, doing exactly what Shikamaru had foreseen.

"Hidden mud prison!", the younger of the two siblings said, accompanied by a series of hand movements. Suddenly, the earth beneath them turned into sticky muck, forcing Ino and Shikamaru to leap onto the boulders of a nearby cliff. Choji, being maximized, had no chance to escape in time and was quickly trapped. The siblings smiled menacingly, their bleak gray eyes promising death and destruction.

"Shikamaru, what do we do?", Ino wanted to know. Her expression was pleading, expecting a miracle as usual. However, this time she'd have to wait. Her own mind-possession jutsu wouldn't work as the siblings were floating in the air, constantly shifting position.

"Combine jutsu: flying brick destruction!", they shouted. The one with the long black hair raised his hands towards the sky in a movement Shikamaru had seen before. He's trapping the wind, meaning he'll release it on Choji soon. Probably with a little something added from the younger sibling. Quickly, Shikamaru performed his Shadow possession jutsu and reached out for his friend. Before he could connect, however, his shadows were intercepted by a storm, which didn't harm them. The stones of various sizes within it, though, would hurt Choji. Concentrating hard, Shikamaru made the shadows multiply and fight off the continuous onslaught of debris.

"We need to retreat. They're both long distance fighters, which hinders my justu. Yours won't work either, Ino. Furthermore, the intel needs to reach the Hokage as soon as possible. No use fighting these two", Shikamaru decided grimly and without diverting his focus. Beside him, he felt Ino straighten and nod. "I'll get Choji, just occupy them a moment longer."

"No, wait", he tried, knowing they were outmatched and needed to stay together. Ino had already leaped off the temporary safety of the stones beneath them and landed on a rock right next to Choji, who returned to his normal size to take hold of the girl's helping hand. Shikamaru watched on from the distance, bothered by more than the slowly decreasing storm around them. That conveniently placed rock… "Ino! Come back!"

The moment he said it, the stone lifted into the air, toppling Ino. She screamed, lost her balance and fell. With a face full of mud, she didn't see the heavy rock that was heading in her direction with great speed. Shikamaru saw it and at the same time noticed the movement of the air in front of the older sibling who was turned his way.

He blinked, calculating the odds and thinking about what a drag this would be, then caught Ino and Choji with his shadows, propelling them to safety. His gaze met Choji's and Shikamaru had just enough time to mouth the words 'intel. Hokage.' before the gust of wind hit him straight in the chest and smacked him off the cliff.

* * *

 **2**

"And then he fell down the chasm and those siblings were still after us and we had to fulfill his orders, so we brought the message", Ino finished breathlessly. Tsunade, fifth Hokage of Konoha, noticed the young ninja's fidgeting and sighed. The girl was hoping to lead a rescue mission, but she had to face the truth, harsh as it was.

"The confrontation took place right next to the Falkenland Canyon, am I right?"

"Yes", Ino ground out.

"That canyon no longer carries any water. According to your report of the battle, Nara Shikamaru was hit directly and with so much force that he was thrown off the ridge. The data suggests that he'd have serious head and thorax injuries. He would have been unconscious in the least. Which means that even if he didn't die from the blow, he couldn't have survived the fall. It's more than 200 feet. I'm sorry, Ino, but there will be no rescue mission."

"But…!"

"No. Stay here. That's an order", Tsunade said sternly. The loss of a brilliant strategist like Shikamaru pained her, yet the information she'd received was worth it. Keeping it out of the enemy's hands was paramount now, hence it was doubly important that Ino and Choji were safe.  
Being lost in thought, Tsunade had nearly forgotten that Ino was still standing in front of her desk. Nevertheless, the girl had backbone, stubbornly refusing to give up, she had to give her that.

"I will send a team to retrieve the body", Tsunade relented.

"Lady Hokage, please let me..."

"No."

Silence. Then, slowly, a nod. Inwardly, Tsunade smiled, knowing she'd won the argument. The victory felt hollow, though. In times like these, she hated her job. "I will send someone of the Hyuga Clan, just in case", she added, trying to soften the blow. Ino nodded again, stoically turned around and left the room. As the door closed, Tsunade could hear her crying softly. Tsunade, too, had to take a deep breath before she called for Shizune, her assistant.

"The reconnaissance mission was a success", she told the woman, "Unfortunately, the team was followed and during the ensuing battle, Nara Shikamaru was killed. We need to inform his parents. And send for Hinata, Sakura and Naruto. He would have wanted to be brought back by friends." Shinzune stared blankly, which Tsunade attributed to shock. With a little encouragement, the ninja got over it, though, and efficiently started to carry out orders.

While she waited for the parents to arrive, the Hokage leaned back in her chair, watching the clouds like Shikamaru used to do, and sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

**3**

Even before he woke up, Shikamaru knew he was supposed to be dead. The feeling was burrowed deep into his gut, a sense of wrongness that turned the peaceful drifting of his mind into a nightmare ride. He felt as if he was desperately holding on to a slippery raft in the midst of a catastrophic shipwreck, unable to swim and unwilling to let go.

No, that's wrong. I'm not drowning, am I? There was no water in… Suddenly, the memories came rushing back. He'd been pushed into the canyon, crashing into the wall on the other side. His head had hit stone. That's where is memories ended.

Which means I'm on the ground of Falkenland Canyon, therefore I'm not drowning but I might suffocate if I'm lying face-down. Am I? With a renewed sense of urgency, Shikamaru opened his mouth, tasting blood and sand and, thankfully, clean air. Slowly, systematically, he tried to breathe, which hurt so much that at least a few of his ribs had to be broken. Legs and feet seemed bruised, one arm was out of its socket. And his fingers didn't move on either side when he tried.

Well, at least he wasn't dead, Shikamaru reasoned, turning his body around until his uninjured shoulder touched the ground. A small groan escaped his lips when he laboriously got to his knees. His head felt as if a herd of Naruto's shadow clones had been trampling all over it. Furthermore, as he tried to walk, his vision got really fuzzy. Suddenly, he found himself on the ground again with no idea how he'd gotten there.

"Troublesome", he muttered, bringing up a hand to his temple. It came away wet. He was just about to give standing up another try when distant voices reaches his ears.

"Are you sure you caught him, Hibiko? Your jutsu isn't the most reliable kind..."

"'Course I did, so would you please stop acting like I'm an imbecile? And for the record: the hidden mud prison always works. Just because you learned that fancy wind style doesn't mean you're above everyone else, you know?"

They're getting closer, Shikamaru thought and grimaced. They'd intentionally saved his life after separating him from his team, which was pretty smart. Although he could see the beauty in their ploy, Shikamaru cursed silently. His eyes focused and unfocused irregularly while he searched for a place to hide. Rocks, some smaller rocks and - oh, there! More rocks. All of them were too far away to crawl to and hide behind. Wouldn't do me much good anyway, I'll leave a clear trail behind.

"Hibiko! Over here!" Time's up, Shikamaru thought, removing his fingers from the ground.

Two shapes were rounding a corner, their voices gleeful. "What do we have here? A child, and he's all alone."

Shikamaru forced a grin onto his battered face. "What makes you think that? We Konoha nin never separate, except if one of us decides to play bait", he told them, voice even.

"Hayate?" The younger sibling, which Shikamaru could discern by his broader stature, actually stopped dead in his tracks. His victory was short-lived, though, when the other one laughed. "He's bluffing."

"Am I?", he challenged, inwardly groaning. Of course I am, you moron. But what else was I supposed to do? It would be really great if Ino made her entrance now and saved the day, though. His mind raced back to the last order he'd given, then quickly checked the position of the sun. Not a chance they'd be back already. He really was alone.

"What a mess", he muttered and watched them cautiously approach. They'd split up, coming at him from both sides. After considering his very limited options, he grabbed his last remaining kunai as best as he could with three broken fingers. Forming a jutsu was out of the question, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Look at him, he's adorable", the older one, Hayate, beamed, lazily stopping in front of him. Shikamaru clenched his teeth, braced himself and lunged forward. The bastard caught his blade between two fingers. Having anticipated this result, Shikamaru immediately let go and used his momentum to fall into the enemy and ram up his knee. It found home right between the legs of the very surprised ninja, who paled in pain and anger.

As fast as his body would allow, Shikamaru followed the attack by driving his fist into the guy's face, but he got caught from behind before he could even graze him. Strong arms pinned him to the ground, putting unbearable pressure on his chest. He couldn't breathe.

Hayate got down to eye-level and Shikamaru saw the hate gleaming in his cold gray eyes.

They wordlessly stared at each other until Shikamaru blacked out.

* * *

 **4**

They reached the canyon shortly after sunrise. Naruto jumped down directly, latching onto the side of the walls. Sakura cursed his recklessness – what if the outer layer of stone wasn't stable? - and took a safer route by hopping from outcropping to outcropping. Hinata simply followed her. She activated her Byakugan once they were at the bottom of the chasm.

"It could take some time, the canyon is really long", she warned them quietly. Sakura waved her concerns away while Naruto volunteered to scout the area, too. None of them had talked much on the trip, but now that they had arrived and didn't see a body, they dared to share a few hopes.

"Perhaps he landed on one of the smaller ledges and didn't fall all the way down? He could be somewhere around, injured", Sakura said. Hinata surveyed the surrounding walls and shook her head.

"Nothing."

"Can you see him even though he's unconscious?", Naruto wanted to know, stepping closer.

"Yes."

"And can you… if he's really… if he didn't make it?"

"I'd still be able to see him just as well. It's strange, though. I can't find him anywhere", Hinata said. The lines around her eyes vanished as she turned around to face her companions. "I might be mistaken, but I don't think he's here."

"Great! That means he's on his way back home!", Naruto exclaimed and smiled brightly at them, only to be disappointed by Sakura's dark expression. "We'd have met him halfway."

"So… what happened?"

"The siblings. They happened", Sakura explained thoughtfully. Either they'd taken the body, which wouldn't make much sense. Or Shikamaru had been captured. "Hinata, use your Byakugan to search for any clues. Clothing, blood, signs of a struggle and the like. Naruto and I are going to get back up and try to pinpoint the exact location of the fight yesterday." The girl nodded timidly and whispered: "Byakugan."

A moment later, she tensed. Sakura turned around and jumped back down. "Have you found something?"

"Yes, Sakura-chan."

"What is it?", Naruto chimed in. Together they walked around a few bends in the narrow corridor and stopped next to a few bigger rocks. "There", Hinata said and pointed towards the ground. Between footprints and some reddish stains that looked suspiciously like blood, someone had written a word into the dust. It confirmed all of Sakura's worries.

"Taken", she read tonelessly. What the hell were they supposed to do now?


	3. Chapter 3

**5**

"Wake up!"

Why? Shikamaru thought sarcastically, still pretending to be unconscious. He was doing his best to keep his breathing even, eyes closed, limbs spread apart without any tension. Hayate was obviously loosing his patience, pacing the area around them. At first, the older sibling had seemed contend to wait while Hibiko efficiently immobilized Shikamaru's hands by wrapping them in fisher line, even the broken fingers. It had hurt like hell, but the Konoha nin hadn't moved a muscle.

His reward had been overhearing a very interesting conversation. The siblings had at length discussed whether it was worth it to keep him alive. They wanted to extract information, yet were unsure how to go about it. Best to bring him back to base and let the boss handle it, Hibiko had argued. Hayate still wanted to murder him out of spite.

Perhaps kicking him hadn't been the best course of action, Shikamaru thought, then gasped reflexively when he received a resounding slap to the face. Upon opening his eyes, he found both siblings staring at him, Hayate with resentment and Hibiko with something akin to humor sparkling in his round face. His thick lips formed a perfect O before he chuckled deeply and asked how long Shikamaru had actually been awake.

Shikamaru would have shrugged, but he was lying on the ground and the effect would have been less than impressive. Furthermore, he didn't want to acerbate the damage to his ribs and the newly reset shoulder. Thus, he stayed silent, waiting. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Hayate clench his fists. "Talk!"

"Why?"

The question seemed to put them on the back foot. "Because... he told you so?", Hibiko ventured, now smiling openly, which only served to further enrage his brother. Shikamaru could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears and the fire that was lingering in his eyes. The guy was steaming. But why? Surely he wasn't still upset over that one hit?

"Tell us what you discovered on your mission or well break every bone in your body. And believe me, I wouldn't mind." Hayate had stopped pacing in order to glower at his prisoner from above. He put his foot onto Shikamaru's tender chest for emphasis, pushing down ever so slightly.

Although it made breathing and thinking a lot harder, Shikamaru allowed himself a small smile as he realized a centerpiece he'd been missing. You're acting, just like me. You have no clue how to interrogate someone properly. You're probably as nervous about the situation as I am. Which is a greatly exaggerated hypothesis, because the stakes for Hayate aren't nearly as high as mine. He might lose his position if he doesn't get any results, whereas I won't survive if I don't play this right. Putting it that way made Shikamaru's body tense. Hayate noticed immediately and straightened his pose, only to have the satisfaction wiped off his face by his captive's answer.

"Threatening me isn't going to do you any good. And that's not because I don't believe you'd go through with it - you already made your willingness to injure me very clear. Your strategy is useless, because I don't have anything to gain by telling you my secrets. You'll kill me as soon as you're done with me, which means I only stay alive if I will not tell you anything", he explained patiently. Hayate huffed, stalking away into the wilderness abruptly.

Left with nothing else to do, Shikamaru tried to sit up and found that his ribs had been bandaged. His surprise must have been palpable, because Hibiko laughed yet again. "Confused, are you? We decided that killing you by accident was not an option, thus we made sure that you'd be... stable."

Shikamaru didn't reply, though he processed the information and stored it away for further use. His head was spinning, both with a thousand half-formed plans and exhaustion. Thankfully, Hibiko didn't ask any questions, nor did he move from his position on the ground across the encampment. They were both engrossed in studying their opposite.

Shikamaru noticed that on second look, the siblings didn't resemble one another at all: they might have the same hair and eye color, but Hibiko was round where Hayate was all angles. Round lips versus nearly no lips at all. Round cheeks versus pronounced cheekbones. Curious eyes instead of constantly narrowed ones.

What does he deduce about me? Normally, Shikamaru didn't mind being studied, with him being a very young jounin, he'd had enough experience with it. But now, in his battered state, weaponless, hands tightly bound in front of him, he felt uneasy. Which weaknesses could the ninja detect? How did he plan to take advantage of them?

"You shouldn't play games with my brother. He tends to react poorly to challenges like that," Hibiko stated into the silence. Again, Shikamaru wasn't inclined to answer. Their one-sided conversation was interrupted anyways by Hayate's return. Something was different about the older sibling, his stride, his expression.

"I considered your theory. That's all it is, you know? Theory. You think torture won't make you talk? Let's put it to the test, shall we?" Shit. As Hayate pulled out a kunai, Shikamaru's breathing quickened. His eyes turned towards Hibiko, who put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. I told you so, he seemed to say.

* * *

 **6**

Although it was well past sundown, the self-appointed rescue team continued their chase through the wilderness. Hinata was leading the way with her Byakugan, carefully avoiding anything that would be noisy enough to alert the enemy, just in case. Her dark hair was damp from exertion, yet she refused to ask for a break before Sakura ordered it. Naruto wouldn't have stopped either.

Finally, she caught sight of a small clearing in the distance. Too far away for the others to see, thus she quickly explained her findings. "There's an encampment. Two enemies, both of them asleep, at least I think so. They might not be, um..."

"Go on, Hinata", Naruto urged, stepping closer. Hinata's cheeks reddened and she was glad he couldn't see her trembling in the dark.

"They lit a small fire. There are traps set around the perimeter, tripwire and light bombs and... I'm not sure what else they might have set up. We need to be careful."

"What about Shikamaru? Can you see him?"

"Yes. He's tied to a tree. His hands are bound separately in front of him. He's... asleep, too." Sakura glanced at her when she hesitated, her piercing eyes recognizing Hinata's fears. "They wouldn't bother if he were dead."

"I know, that's not it." Hinata shook her head. Because she didn't feel like elaborating, she finished her report and anxiously waited for Sakura to decide how to approach. The young woman was a natural leader, Hinata thought and remembered how happy she'd been to let her take charge. And I'm not going to be jealous about the way she can talk to boys. It's not in my nature and, more importantly, it doesn't matter right now. Naruto doesn't matter now, Shikamaru does.

However, her focus kept wandering back to the blond boy while they discussed strategies.

"We need to alert him to our presence, break him free and vanish without waking the enemy", Sakura summarized. The task was virtually impossible, Hinata knew. They wouldn't be able to get close without springing one of the traps. And as if she'd read her mind, Sakura smiled.

"Maybe we won't need to enter the encampment, at least not to inform Shikamaru that we're here. See, I've got one of Sai's little messenger birds left. They were meant to signal reinforcements, but... it'll have to do."

"Let's go!" Naruto was practically jumping up and down with excitement. With the visual from her Byakugan in mind, Hinata watched him with mixed feelings, knowing he'd soon loose his chipper disposition.

"Um... Shikamaru's not... he's... not unhurt", Hinata stammered, then hastily rose from her crouch on the ground and led them towards the edge of the perimeter. From the audible gasp she heard from Sakura, perhaps she should have elaborated. Even Naruto paled when he saw his friend.

His hair had partially escaped from the ponytail he usually wore and obscured his face, but his clothing was visible. It was shredded, revealing multiple deep gashes across Shikamaru's stomach and there was blood still seeping through the uniform at the shoulder. Hinata could also discern purple bruises on his forearms that looked like Shikamaru had unsuccessfully tried to fight off whoever had done this to him. For the second time in her life, Hinata felt deep hatred bloom in her heart as she was reminded of Naruto's injuries during his battle with Pain.

To her right, Sakura was pulling the white pigeon out of her pack. She didn't seem quite as confident about her plan now, but her hands were steady, which Hinata admired. Together, they watched the bird rise into the air.

Within the camp, Shikamaru's head snapped up.

* * *

 **A/N: Another little cliffy, sorry. Any ideas how Shikamaru will react? Do you think he has a plan ready? And do you have any other prompts, ideas or wishes? Criticism?**

 **Please leave a comment in the box below!**


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